Moses Paine

Moses Paine (died 22 August 1777) was a resident of Setauket, Long Island who was a signer of a petition to the New York provincial congress.

Biography
Moses Paine was born in Setauket, Long Island, New York, and he had patriot sympathies during the American Revolutionary War. In 1776, he was one of the signers of a petition to the New York provincial congress, which made him a traitor in the eyes of Great Britain. When Major Edmund Hewlett began searching for alleged conspirators against his life in the spring of 1777 and began disarming the townspeople, Paine feared for his life, with a friend urging him to join the Continental Army or start fresh in Connecticut. However, Paine decided to turn in the petition to Major Hewlett to save his own skin, but he was arrested and sent to the gallows with the other signers. When the Battle of Setauket began and the rebels arrived, Simcoe kicked down the stand at the gallows, leaving Paine to hand from the noose and die.